Spring Storm Scours the Bay

If you were anywhere near the Bay Area on Saturday, it probably didn't escape your notice that we experienced some unsettled weather. After slogging through torrential downpours all day, the full force of the storm hit that evening, sending anchored boats dragging and shredding poorly secured roller furling jibs. "My anemometer maxed at just over 50 knots," wrote Jeff Berman, who had his Catalina 36 II Perseverance berthed at Sausalito's Schoonmaker Point Marina for the weekend.

Boats anchored just off the marina in Richardson Bay took the brunt of the storm. According to Richardson Bay Regional Agency Harbor Administrator Bill Price, at least 15 boats — not including dinghies and skiffs — went walkabout on Saturday. "It's very frustrating that people who can afford to keep their boats in marinas try to save money by anchoring out," said Price. "They underestimate the damage that other, less-well-maintained boats can cause when they drag anchor."

While most of the boats washed up on either Strawberry Point or near Blackie's Pasture, a few actually sunk at their moorings. The Coast Guard and Marin Sheriff's Patrol did their best that night to round up the strays, but only a handful were saved from being grounded. Salvage services such as Parker Diving will be likely be cleaning up the mess for days to come.

Weekend Racing Wrap-up

March 21, 2011
– The Bay and Beyond

Eighteen J/105s and seven J/120s showed up for the St. Francis YC's Spring One Design Regatta this weekend, and were treated to a gray and rainy Saturday before being surprised by a decidedly drier Sunday that even saw the sun poke through. In the J/105s, Bruce Stone's Arbitrage got out of the blocks quickly, finishing 1-3-1 on Saturday. On Sunday, Stone posted a 3-6, which was just enough to stave off a challenge by Rolf Kaiser's Donkey Jack, which finished with 2-1. Stone took the regatta on a countback, with Walter Sanford's Alchemy rounding out the podium. The typically-close J/120s didn't disappoint, with Barry Lewis' Chance taking the division by a one-point margin over John Wimer's Desdemona and Don Payan's Dayenu, with the former beating out the latter on a countback.

Down the coast, a large contingent of Northern California boats joined up with some of the country's finest for the Newport Harbor YC's Cabo Race. The "slower" boats got going on Friday and were greeted with a light air beat that let them slip down the coast ahead of a front that has wrought havoc among the Division A and B boats. The latter started on Saturday and have since seen their ranks decimated by a 30-knot southerly and a hellacious sea state. In Division A, only Bill Turpin's Santa Cruz-based R/P 77 Akela remains. John MacLaurin's Pendragon VI was the first to retire, followed by Hap Fauth's Newport, Rhode Island-based R/P 69 Bella Mente, which was dismasted south of Ensenada. Lorenzo Berho's Vallarta-based Kernan 70 Peligroso was next to retire. In Division B, the crew of Ashley Wolfe's Bay Area-based TP 52 Mayhem — perhaps emboldened by the fact that their new boat is waiting for them at home — is the only 52 still in the race, but is lying in fourth behind a trio of ULDB 70s: Ed McDowell's SC70 Grand Illusion, Per Petterson's Andrews 70 Alchemy and Chris Slagerman's Peterson 66 Cheetah. Chip Megeath's Tiburon-based R/P 45 Criminal Mischief, Peter Tong's SC 70T OEX and Laura Schlessinger's brand-new Kernan 47 Katana all headed back to the barn and have reached it safely. Division C holds the current race leader in Jack Taylor's all-conquering, Dana Point-based SC 50 Horizon. Frank Slootman's Bay Area-based J/111 Invisible Hand is currently lying in third in Division D in her maiden offshore race.

- latitude / rg

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Father and Son Cruising

March 21, 2011
– Galle, Sri Lanka

When we last crossed paths with the father-son crew of Eva, they were testing their strength the Polynesian way at the 2009 Tahiti-Moorea Sailing Rendezvous. As the smallest boat in that year's fleet, their Nor'Sea 27 had served them well during the previous three years of cruising together — which included a crossing of more than 40 days from Hawaii where they faced day after day of headwinds. Before setting out in this stout little cruiser they'd completely reconditioned her in their driveway near the Mendocino coast.

Not long after the Moorea rendezvous, we heard that Captain Michael and his father, Gerald, had come through their next challenge relatively unscathed: A drunken Tahitian had T-boned the little sloop while blasting around the Bora Bora anchorage in his speedboat. Not long after that, Michael and Gerald survived the October '09 tsunami that hit Pago Pago, American Samoa, with almost no warning. Their boat — with them in it and its anchor down — was driven far inland on the first wave. While high and dry, they jumped out gathered up their ground tackle and waited for the next wave to pick them up and carry them back out to the anchorage. Amazingly, it did just that!

Last week we heard from Michael and Gerald again. "We have had a very interesting, but challenging tour through Southeast Asia the past few months. We were late leaving Australia, and have had light to non-existent wind for the last 4,000 miles. . . We sure have been glad to have our little Yanmar SB8, which gives us a range of 1,000 miles on one tank of 40 gallons of diesel.

"The only really tough part of the trip was through the Java Sea where we had quite strong head winds most of the time. The worst was when Cyclone Vince, 600 miles to the south, was reinforcing the northwest monsoon flow, giving us day after day of 40-knot winds from the west. And, of course, we happened to be right in the middle of the Java Sea when this wind hit. But having a chance to see the orangutans in the Tanjung Putting National Park on Kalimantan was worth the difficult Java Sea crossing."

The pair sent their concern about recent damage along the California coast, noting that, "Here in Galle, people are still talking about the '04 tsunami that leveled the town. We have met several people who are still lamenting the loss of their beach houses seven years on." When we profiled Michael and Gerald in '09, their advice to future cruisers was: "Be prepared, be self-sufficient, but above all, be flexible." It seems that heeding their own advice has served them well.